Microsoft Holds Back Bungie Announcement

E3 was supposed to be the staging point for the next Bungie bombshell but Microsoft was said to cut it to save time. Bungie had big plans to reveal some stuff they were working on and really take best in show for E3. Was it really cut because of time?

This sounds fabricated, cutting a huge announcement because of time constraints makes absolutely no sense. Imagine a firework show where you cut the grand finale because it would push the show over by a few minutes. Just dropping a title name or a 30 second teaser video would have taken a minute at most, we’re not looking for long winded explanations, just the facts.

Perhaps the real reason was Microsoft had it in their back pocket if people found the Netflix and Final Fantasy XIII news hum drum compared to anything Sony or Nintendo were to show off. Reacting dynamically to the news, perhaps they realized Sony didn’t have any epic announcements and Nintendo just showed up to hint at their future accessories. Microsoft’s haymaker of an announcement wasn’t needed to win the show this year.

Or, maybe the low turn out to the event just wouldn’t build enough hype for Microsoft’s big announcement. They could find a better outlet to turn on the hype and get people jazzed for the next Bungie product. Three years ago there is no doubt Microsoft would have come out fighting with all their weapons; this year Final Fantasy XIII was enough to show consumers that Sony’s lost their exclusives.

After the noise of E3 fades we’re sure to hear more from Bungie. We feel bad for the employees of Bungie who were ready to make the announcements on their work in progress. Sometimes, saving it for later is the best thing you can do; think of the anticipation that will build!

(Thanks, 1up)

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The Question of the Week: “What is your favorite, if any, LEGO videogames?”

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Imagine that, the kids hand held grows up and is getting a Grand Theft Auto title. The game will, of course, be a sandbox-style title true to the franchise history and will feature new characters and a new game engine.

No real details came out of the announcement, just a little leak to the press so everyone can speculate on what is to come. First thing that will arrive will be nay-sayer parents telling the ESRB the game isn’t rated correctly, defines violence in today’s culture and is bad for the United States and the youth of America.

Just a guess.

The new game engine will probably be designed for compact hand helds and allow for a very touch-sensitive approach to the game. Imagine car jacking an innocent driver with the touch of a finger or beating an old lady with a bat with a swat of the stylus. Sound fun? Sounds disturbing.

The Grand Theft Auto series needs a DS game. Finally a product that shouldn’t require a billion dollar effort to produce and market yet should yield fantastic sales figures based on the DS install base.

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Miyamoto said Nintendo used E3 as a platform for spreading the word to a broad audience based on the media present at the event, they’re not speaking to the core audience. So, if you’re a core audience gamer and you were confused on why Nintendo didn’t build their presentation to be all glitz and glamor, it’s because they weren’t talking to you.

Based on the fact that E3 is a “press event” and their looking to get out the word to the general audience, press is needed as a staging point. The audience sitting in the seat was a bit more intense in nature and have high expectations for each presentation.

With sites like gamespot streaming the event live on the Internet it’s not too hard to imagine some casual gamers and non-core-gamers may have been listening. Or, perhaps their hoping to get old school media in the form of magazines and journalists to write about their upcoming product launches.

Or, perhaps they just showed up because they’re expected to?

(Thanks, Joystiq)